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Witten by David Shore ad Matt Witen, Role Model, the first season episode of House which aired for the first time in April 12, 2005 is directed by Peter O’Fallon.

In summary, Role Model revolves around Vogler and House. A political friend of Vogler collapses at a rally and Vogler demands that House examines him to establish the problem. Subsequently, House takes an interest in the case but from the findings of the examinations, his conclusion seems to end the chances of the patient to pursue his political career. Meanwhile, Vogler continues to pressurize House to the point that he wants House to endorse his new pharmaceutical. My appologies if this is not as detailed as I’d like I’ve been dealing with painting my house this week.

The Plot

The episode opens with a politician giving a speech. Suddenly, he becomes unwell and from the judgment of his audience, he is seen to be struggling with the rest of his speech and ultimately his assistant does the finishing. Inasmuch as the politician says he is okay, his continued disorientation and collapse down a short flight of stairs confirms that indeed he has a problem.

When Vogler talks to House about the problem, House immediately thinks that food poisoning is to blame. Because food poisoning doesn’t take long to treat, Vogler and House get on to other matters and look at the possibilities of firing Foreman or Cameron. Vogler also tells House that he has to give a speech as a way of supporting a drug he is developing. According to House, the drug is expensive compared to the existing ones but Vogler insists that House endorses it anyway if he doesn’t want anyone to be fired in the hospital.

House then orders a lumbar puncture and MRI on realizing that the Patellar reflex of the patient is not responding. The tests come out negative and only a small smudge is seen in his brain. Thereafter, House explores the possibility of a tumor or infection of the brain of the patient and as such a brain biopsy would reveal it all. Cuddy who was to do the biopsy says she can’t do it and even they argue in front of the patient with House.

When patient agrees for the biopsy, the test shows the existence of a brain lesion which is caused by toxoplasmosis. Because this fungus causes brain lesions in patients who have immune deficiency, Foreman deduces that the patient may be having AIDs. The patient however refuses antiretroviral treatment and only says he wants to be treated for toxoplasmosis.

The AIDs test turns out positive and the patient is put on anti-virals. Due to his low T-cell count, the likelihood of the patient dying is high and as such they find it important to contact the sexual partners of the politician. The drugs do not however work and a second AIDs test is done which turns out negative. The patient is still suffering and they need to find what the problem is.

Written by Sara B Cooper and directed by Bryan Spicer, Love Hurts is the twentieth episode of House Season I which aired first on November 23, 2004.

Overview

In this episode, House snaps at a patient in the clinic and as a result of the confrontation, the patient appears to suffer a stroke. In order to avoid legal repercussions, House accepts to take the patient’s case. After failed attempts to find answers and the patient’s condition becoming worse, House tries to push through past the cover of lies perpetrated by the patient in order to find the right diagnosis.

The Plot

House is in a clinic exam room together with Wilson. Wilson is trying to analyze with a view to understand the condition that Cameron set for her return to work. House on the other hand has agreed to Cameron’s request for a date. After walking out of the exam room, House confronts Harvey Park, a Korean patient whom he believes to have spilled urine on him while in actual sense it was apple juice. Before House could even apologize, the patient had suffered a stroke apparently as a result of the confrontation.

Chase and Foreman are unable to conduct an MRI because Harvey’s jaws are fitted with a steel plate. When Foreman makes an attempt to take his medical history, he faces constant interruptions from Harvey’s female friend. When Harvey tries to explain his condition, the team notices a condition known as nominal aphasia where relatively simple words especially nouns cannot be easily be recalled to mind. Harvey has tried several treatment options and seen a number of medical practitioners including a chiropractor, a naturopath, and acupuncturist, but his problem is still persistent.

Foreman and Chase then prepare for an angiogram while Cameron starts doing the EMG. From the way Harvey was reacting following the insertions of needles into his arm and then asked to flex the muscles, it seems he enjoys the sensation. The EMG comes out clean and the team is left to speculate what else could be the cause of Harvey’s condition.

Despite Harvey saying that the parents had died, Chase and Cameron go ahead to examine his apartment for clues. Cameron finds a year book while Chase finds a drawer that is filled with Tic-Tac. House calls Harvey parents and tricks them so that they can come and give consent to their son’s surgery. The surgery was successful, but the problem could not be identified.

Cuddy, House’s ex-girlfriend, finds out Cameron’s interest in House, but goes ahead to approve their date. The date was good, but neither of them found it promising. From the new mints that Chase found at Harvey’s apartment, House deduces that Harvey could be suffering from fulminating osteomyelitis which is an infection of the jaw. This is what indeed caused Harvey’s stroke and the problem was treated. When House tells Annette, Harvey’s friend to stop strangulating him, she says that it is all because of how vulnerable Harvey is to her and not about the pain.

Did some moving this last weekend and it was brutal so I apologize for not having more blogs out for you guys. Fortunately we had the best movers nyc and pa piano movers.

Aired first on May 10, 2005, Babies & Bathwater is the eighteenth episode of House Season I directed by Bill Johnson and written by David Shaw and Peter Blake.

Summary

In this episode, House quickly diagnosis an expectant woman, but due to the risk to her unborn baby, she resists treatment. When House tries to work out the situation in order to get her the best available treatment, Vogler stands in his way. Ultimately, the dispute between Vogler and House comes to a showdown and Wilson gets caught in between. Babies & Bathwater is the last episode where Edward Vogler is featured in the series.

The Plot

Naomi, an expectant woman driving her husband who was drank temporarily blacks out and escapes a collision by a whisker. A policeman pulls them over and erroneously suspects Naomi is driving under influence. He orders her out for a sobriety test and as she walks to the back of the car, she collapses.

At the hospital, Foreman conducts some tests on her and finds that her liver and kidney are not functioning. Naomi has had miscarriages a number of times before and anything that would risk the life of her unborn baby is highly unwelcome. Foreman then introduces Naomi’s case to House and explains about her lost coordination despite her normal blood pressure. House suspects that Naomi could be suffering from autoimmune disease. At the same time, House reveals that Cameron has quit to which Chase and Foreman blame him for it.

Naomi goes into premature labor while undergoing vasculitis tests following her choking on soft pear that led to difficulty in swallowing.

Vogler who is at loggerheads with House because of embarrassing remarks he gave in a speech, doesn’t take the firing of Cameron as an atonement and demands resignation of House, and a public apology else will destroy him.

House orders Foreman and Chase to examine Naomi’s eyelids. They discover her esophagus is swelling and they order x-rays which reveal aggressive and inoperable small cell lung cancer. The best way to treat this is through chemotherapy and radiation, but since this will endanger the baby’s life, a caesarian section with an 80% survival chance for the 28 weeks old unborn baby. With an intention to enhance the baby’s chances of survival to 90%, Naomi pleads that her cancer treatment be delayed. Her husband is torn between losing his unborn child and the wife.

In a board meeting to revoke House’s tenure, Vogler threatens to leave with his donation of $100 million and expects an anonymous decision which Wilson spoils and gets fired.

With her husband on the side of House, Naomi is anaesthetized for surgery which Vogler interrupts. Shortly after, Naomi develops respiratory distress due to pulmonary embolism and a C-section had to be done at least to save the baby because the mother would die anyway. Naomi dies, but the baby is delivered safely.

In the next board meeting, Cuddy votes against the motion to fire House and an attempt by Vogler to fire her also fails. Ultimately, Wilson is reinstated, House remains and Vogler is dismissed by the board pulling out his $100 million donation.

This is the final episode of the first season of House and it aired first December 28, 2004. It was directed by Fred Keller and written by John Mankiewicz and Lawrence Kaplow.

Overview

In the episode, House’s ex-girlfriend Stacy Warner is experiencing reluctance from her husband Mark who doesn’t want to be treated by House. Even though Mark insists that he is well, the initial tests reveal that something is seriously wrong with him. House finds himself at an emotional crossroads where he is torn between treating Mark so as to please Stacy or letting him to die so that Stacy can come back to him or hurt her as revenge for what she did to him. The matter becomes trickier when the only way to undertake diagnosis is to risk Mark’s life.

The Plot

House tries to fulfill the promise he made to Stacy by meeting Mark, her husband. This was in order that House may assess Mark’s medical problems. To achieve this, Stacy had to arrange a dinner and trick her husband so that he can be present unaware that House will also be attending. When Mark finally shows up, he says that the doctors have told him his problem is stress-related and there is no need for hospitalization. However, House goes ahead to drug his drink and this causes Mark to collapse after downing the beer.

Even though previous tests done on Mark do not indicate any cause, House orders a repeat of the tests plus CT scans and abdominal ultrasound. His team doesn’t understand why House is so persistent and doesn’t believe when Mark says he is not sick. Instead, he believes Stacy so much and this makes Wilson deduce that the reason for treating Mark is merely an impression that House wants to make on Stacy and possibly win her back.

When the scans come out negative, Mark responds by ordering exploratory surgery even though his team is against it. The surgery only reveals that Mark has a distended bladder which would ordinarily not be the cause of the problem Mark is suffering from. However, House still reviews the surgery video and while at it, he spots abdominal epilepsy which his team has mistaken for normal peristaltic movement. This is a clear indication that Mark is suffering from neurological disorder.

Despite the revelation that Mark’s enlarged bladder was caused by nerve death, subsequent scans and tests show that Mark does not suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. However, when Mark starts losing sensation in his hands and toes, House believes the problem could be Guillain-Barre syndrome. The test on this also came negative.

Later on, House suspects that Mark is exhibiting symptoms of acute intermittent porphyria. To test for this, Mark had to be forcefully induced into an attack although he had refused. Stacy was however willing. When Mark was finally induced, the problem was diagnosed and treatment began. Cuddy then comes to the scene and suggests the hiring of Stacy as a general counsel of the hospital to help attend to Mark as he recovers.

This is the 21st episode of the first season of House which was aired for the first time on December 21, 2004. It was directed by Paris Barclay and written by David Shore.

In this episode of House, Cuddy wants House to deliver a lecture on diagnostics to the medical students. Despite a hesitation, House finally agrees when let off of clinic duty for a few hours. On his way to the lecture, House finds his ex-girlfriend coming to ask him whether he could treat her husband. After refusing and brushing her off, House heads to the lecture and one of the cases he represents looks very familiar.

In addition to this episode of House being one of the best, it is an important one as far as the development of the character of House and his backstory is concerned. In the previous episodes leading to this one, House easily jokes with Wilson, Cuddy, patients and family. Even while on a date with Cameron, House breaks the news that the reason he believes she likes him is because he is damaged. Inasmuch as there are no clear cut clues to the contrary, it may be logical to conclude that House is past the point where he needs or wants any human connection.

Despite this, the plot changes when Stacy Warner shows up. Stacy is House’s ex-girlfriend and he even confirmed earlier in the series that he is over her. Stacy is beautiful and intelligent. She greets House as Greg and this changes his reaction. His wisecracks all of a sudden disappear and he looks vulnerable. In putting up this defensive look, House has the intention of making Stacy realize that her presence was not welcome and her request would not be granted.

The lecture House delivers tells us more about him. Despite his slow start and reluctance, House is astounding and at every turn, he brings his students on board by deflecting their assumptions and letting them confirm their own biases. The lecture fulfills its desired effect of teaching the students the importance of thinking through initial diagnosis as well as introducing critical issues about medical ethics.

Contrary to what happens in many of the episodes in this series, Three Stories turns the tables. Three patients come to the emergency room with identical cases. One of the patients is the real House and he has tried to conceal as much detail as possible so as to keep everyone guessing. The moment House starts tackling one of the cases personally; it appears he is expressing anger about his own case.

This episode brings to the open other parts of House’s backstory particularly his near death experience, his earlier connections to Cuddy, and the entire story behind his disability. Even with this, no one can tell whether house went into drug addiction before or after the infarction that resulted into his disability.

Three Stories won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series in 2005 and a Humanitas Prize in 2006.

We love the show House and I assume that if you are here at this site you do to. This is a review blog and we will not have any free shows but plenty of free blogs about reviews. More coming soon. Watch out though for spoiler alerts!